10 Power 5 head coaches most on the hot seat in 2016
By John Buhler
To say that 2016 is a massively important year for Tennessee Volunteers football would be a gross understatement. Tennessee will field a team that could very well win the SEC East for the first time since Philip Fulmer was the head coach back in 2007.
While Tennessee has gone to bowl games the last two years under head coach Butch Jones, anything less than a top 25 finish may prove too much for him to continue in 2017. Yes, Jones has been the best coach in Knoxville since Fulmer’s 2008 firing, going 21-17 overall, 10-14 in SEC play, and 2-0 in bowl games, but not being able to beat traditional rivals has plagued both Tennessee and the Jones era in Knoxville.
Though Jones’ Volunteers defeated the Georgia Bulldogs in 2015 for the first time since 2009, Tennessee hasn’t beat two other annual rivals in far too long: the Florida Gators have won 11 straight over the Volunteers and the Alabama Crimson Tide have won nine straight over Tennessee.
It’s hard to build a championship caliber program without routinely beating three annual rivals. Jones has recruited magnificently since taking over Tennessee from Derek Dooley in 2013, but failing to win 10 games in 2016 would feel underwhelming for Volunteers football this fall.
To be fair, Tennessee seems to have learned its lesson after parting ways with Fulmer in 2008, as both the Lane Kiffin and Dooley’s eras in Knoxville were utter disasters. So firing Jones wouldn’t be pragmatic at all for what Tennessee has had to endure in the last decade.
However, 2016 is the year that Jones needs to finally put it all together. If he can’t bring Tennessee back to national prominence, then it’s probably time for somebody else to try.
Next: 7. Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets